The present invention relates in general to surgical devices and procedures, and more specifically to endoscopic procedures and accessories for use with an endoscope.
Surgical procedures are often to treat and cure a wide range of diseases, conditions, and injuries. One with ordinary skill in the art will readily recognize the many benefits of minimally invasive surgery, as compared to open incisional, including less pain, shorter recovery time, less scarring, and lower cost. Surgeons typically use endoscopes during minimally invasive surgical procedures to visualize tissue within the patient. Laparoscopic surgery is one type of minimally invasive surgical procedures in which a surgeon uses ports to access and visualize the tissue site of interest within the abdominal cavity. Often laparoscopic surgery involves filled the abdominal cavity with an insufflatory fluid, such as carbon dioxide or saline, to provide adequate space to perform the intended surgical procedures. The insufflated cavity is generally under pressure and is sometimes referred to as being in a state of pneumoperitoneum. Another type of minimally invasive surgery involves entering the patient via natural openings (e.g., mouth, anus, vagina, urethra, and the like) and conducting inspection or treatment within the organ, sometimes referred to as intraluminal procedures. Still another type of minimally invasive surgery involves entering the patient via natural openings of the body and piercing organ walls to access inside the adnominal cavity, sometimes referred to as transluminal surgery.
Numerous endoscopic and minimally invasive surgical instruments have been developed that allow the surgeon to perform complex surgical procedures, whether laparoscopic, intraluminal, transluminal or otherwise, but no one has previously made or used a device or procedure in accordance with the present invention.